September 12th, 2021 … Summer of Fun continues! Texas!

We departed Ray & Donna West Free RV Park in Muleshoe TX on US 84, after a restful night at our “free” RV spot. We did leave a donation!

We came to Littlefield Texas and learned that it was the hometown of Waylon Jennings. The late country music singer was born and raised in Littlefield and residents are always proud to brag about it. Jennings passed away in 2002, but his legacy lives on in Littlefield thanks to his younger brother. James Jennings is the owner and operator of Waymore's liquor store, which is located along Waylon Jennings Boulevard. James makes his money selling the liquor, but he honors his brother with a little room in the back of the store. 

There is also another “free” RV park in Littlefield, it’s the Waylon Jennings RV Park. You can stay 2nights free here.

In Lubbuck Texas, we took Route 84, which will take us to Route 82. Behind the trees is Children’s Home of Lubbuck. Children’s Home of Lubbock’s mission is to care for children and families in crisis. On any given day, some 80 children live on the campus and about 50 other children are in foster homes. Since the Home opened its doors in 1954, over 6,000 children have been helped through the Home’s services. Children’s Home is a community of volunteers, workers and supporters, pouring their efforts together to make life better for children who need to see that caring and love do exist in a world that has often been unfair and unjust. Children’s Home places a strong emphasis on family rehabilitation, with programs of care designed for children and their families. Children’s Home has a debt-free modern group care campus. Spiritual training is a vital part of each child’s life at the Home. Each cottage worships at a different congregation in the Lubbock community. Staff and children become active participants in the congregation where they worship. 

After Lubbock, we headed east on US 82. We will be traveling east on US 82 all the way to Georgia! In Idalou Texas, the Idalou Cemetery is a historic place. The cemetery is a link to the many generations who have contributed to the history of Idalou. John William Turner, Jr. and his wife, Mary Alice, deeded two acres of their farm as a burial ground in January 1921. The first burial was for their infant nephew, Weldon Fred Turner, whose grave is indicated by a homemade marker. In May of that year, C.J. and Mary Hallmark buried their infant son C.J., and 13-year-old Mable Gladis Andrews was interred in July. By 1928, when the Turners and Selma Graves donated more land to the burial ground, area residents had formed the Idalou Cemetery Association, with E.T. Daniell, W.M. Weaver and H.W. Lasater serving as the original board members. Over the next decades, the association accepted additional land donations, which increased the cemetery to its present size. Volunteers and families have attended workdays to help maintain the site. Today, the cemetery's features include curbed plots and numerous upright shoulder stones typical of 20th-century grave marker designs, and the open prairie landscape highlights native plantings. 

We passed through Crosbyton Texas, they can boast of a history of Native Americans, Quakers, cowboys, prairie ladies and businessmen. Crosby County was organized in 1886 and named after the General Land Office commissioner Stephen Crosby. Prior to Crosby - the towns of Estacado and Emma also served as county seats. In 1908 the townsite was surveyed by the C. B. Livestock Co. Lots went on sale shortly thereafter and a post office was granted the same year. In 1910, the County election was held to determine the county seat. Crosbyton took the title from Emma. 

On April 10, 1911, the first train left on the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad. From the period of World War I through the 1920s the population of Crosbyton and Crosby County grew steadily. Between 1930 and 1940, the population started to decline, as a result of The Great Depression. First hospital opened in Crosbyton in 1947. It was not until 1975, that Crosbyton had a municipal airport. Crosbyton, a marketing center for hogs, wheat, and grain sorghum, was also at one time the home of the world’s largest cotton gin. In 1980 the town had fifty-five businesses and a population of 2,289. In 1990 the population of Crosbyton was 2,026. By 2000 the population had dropped to 1,874 and in 2,012 was at 1707.

All the information I could find on this mural is the inscription that is painted next to it. Presented to the Crosbyton Community by the Crosbyton Clinic Hospital, October 1994.

The Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum is a rare jewel in a small museum. The collection that details the past of both Native Americans indigenous to the area and the pioneers who settled the Llano Estacado in the late nineteenth century is housed in a beautifully designed facility of 21,681 square feet. The Museum is nestled “on the square” facing Main Street. It is surrounded by the Crosby County Library and a community gazebo. Visitors can tour the museum and still have time to wander around the town square. The Pioneer Museum is unique in the care that has been given to the development of exhibits and the artifacts of life on the South Plains that the exhibits display. The museum is the home of over 45,000 artifacts. The displays that visitors can enjoy include The East Wing: Home and Family Life of the Pioneer. The Rock House: The Story of the First Pioneers. The West Wing: Ranches, Military and Town Life and the Charlie and Verna Anne Wheeler Wing.

We have never seen any place with “free” RV parking, now in Texas we have seen three of them in three different towns. It’s a pretty interesting concept. As “just traveling through” people, we welcome the opportunity to stay for a donation.

We pulled off at the Dickens County Courthouse to take a break. This Romanesque Revival building was built between 1892 and 1893. The building faces west and is a two story buff colored course stone structure. The building is located on spacious grounds in the center of the city. The west front has a central entrance porch with two large arches and recessed entrance on the first story. Above the porch is a recessed section with large arched window. The windows are narrow and vertical. The roof line is flat with a wide concrete band. In 1936, the building was remodeled an addition added and the central tower removed by Nugent Construction Company of Spur. The cost of construction of the first and present courthouse was $19,475. The stone was brought from a quarry two miles northwest. The building originally had a central tower with domed cupola.

Its a unique location for a lawyer’s office across from the courthouse on the square. But we could not find a bail bonds office near here!

The Dickens County Jail was completed in 1909, at a cost of $7,500.00, on highway 82 across the street from the courthouse is of the same construction as the courthouse. Built by Pat Cornett, a master stonemason of native stone, the jail sees daily use. Originally built with living quarters downstairs for the sheriff the two story building is now used as a sheriff´s office and jail. Completely certified by the Texas Commission Jail Standards, the Dickens County Jail is one of the oldest jails in Texas to be fully certified. 

Remodeled and renovated the jail has a capacity of 8 prisoners. Two women cells downstairs and four men cells on the second floor. Built originally with a trap door and rings to hold the hanging rope, the hangman never used the tools of his trade in the Dickens jail. The trap door, with levers to spring the unfortunate prisoners, have been welded shut for many years. One ring in the ceiling still remains. It was ordered taken out by the jail inspector on one of his first visits after jails were required to be certified. His statement was, "It was cruel and unnecessary punishment for a prisoner to have to sit in his cell and view a ring used for a hangman´s noose". After being convinced of the historical value of this ring the subject was dropped and the ring remains. 

I love to see these big ranches, we came upon the Pitchfork Ranch. But, there was no shirtless cowboys riding around ... In December 13, 1883 the Pitchfork Land and Cattle Company was incorporated with 52,500 acres of land in central West Texas and a foundation herd of 9,750 cattle. Unlike most ranches established during the great cattle boom of the 1880s, the Pitchfork survived episodes of drought and cattle depression for more than 100 years. The Pitchfork home ranch now covers 165,000 acres in Dickens and King counties near the town of Guthrie, Texas. The Pitchfork is larger today than at any time in its history. Although the Pitchfork's operations have expanded and modernized, its core business remains the same: cattle. The Pitchfork cattle herd is primarily Black and Black Baldie cows. With around 4,500 mother cows grazing the home ranch, the cowboys have ample opportunity to work the range in a manner very similar to the cowboys who first rode for the brand. Pitchfork cowboys have always ridden good horses. The signature "Pitchfork Gray", a gray horse with a black mane and tail, has now become as synonymous with the ranch as the brand itself. 

Another large ranch we passed is the Four Sixes Ranch is part of the famous Burnett Ranches LLC, which is among the most storied family-run businesses in Texas history. Founded by Captain Samuel “Burk” Burnett in 1870—when he purchased 100 head of cattle wearing the “6666” brand from Frank Crowley of Denton, Texas—Burnett Ranches today encompasses 260,000 acres including the Four Sixes Ranch headquarters, near Guthrie, and the Dixon Creek Ranch, between Panhandle and Borger—both located in the western half of the state.

Before you get to the town of Vera, all you see is rows and rows of windmills. I know there is a great deal of controversy over them, but I still like to see them! What was interesting about these, is there were two that were a darker grey than the rest of the windmills. They really stood out! Vera was originally known as White Flat for the local terrain. That is one of the reasons for all the wind turbines. However, the name posed a problem when a post office was applied for around 1890. The town was then renamed after Vera Kellogg, the daughter of early an early settler (Holt Kellogg). Stock-raising and farming were the first businesses and these were joined by cotton production about 1900. During a series of school consolidations, Vera came out on top - but finally lost out in 1960 when students started attending classes in Seymour or Benjamin. From just 100 people reportedly living there in 1960, Vera hit a record high in 1970 with 276 people and then declining.

The City of Wichita Falls was born with a town lot sale on September 27th, 1882. The arrival of the Ft. Worth & Denver railroad transformed Wichita Falls from a loose collection of shanties to a thriving market center. The railroad enabled ranchers to ship their cattle to Ft. Worth and farmers to market their products to national outlets. By 1910, Frank Kell and Joseph Kemp, city business leaders, organized and built three railroad lines that linked Wichita Falls to markets throughout the country. The formative years of the city were economically driven by farming and ranching. Most everyone in the city, including merchants, bankers, restaurant owners and even city employees owed their living to the land. Corn was the first major cash crop in the area.  By the early 1900's, wheat had surpassed corn thanks in part to Frank Kell's efforts in establishing milling operations. Cattle were brought from ranches throughout the area for processing and shipping to various markets, but farming and ranching weren’t the only industries in town. By the 1950’s Wichita Falls carried the nickname of "Factory City," for having over 100 manufacturing companies, 127 wholesale outlets and 741 retail stores. It wasn’t all work for Wichitans, though, as early as 1909, area citizens enjoyed movies, vaudeville acts, live theatre and concerts at the Wichita Opera House, which later became the Wichita Theatre and is still in use today.

The Wild West was being tamed when in 1905 the President of the US, Theodore Roosevelt, was the guest of Samuel Burnett at a wolf hunt in the "Big Pasture" area of what would later become the State of Oklahoma. Burnett was a flamboyant figure whose 6666 Ranch covered much of the North Texas - Southern Oklahoma area. In 1905, part of the vast Burnett empire was sold to Frank Kell and J.A. Kemp of Wichita Falls who were building a railroad through Burnett's ranch to the "Big Pasture." A town lot sale held by Kemp and Kell on June 6, 1907 marks the official beginning of the city which would later become world famous as the center of a gigantic oil boom. At the suggestions of Teddy Roosevelt, the town was named for his wolf hunt host, Burk Burnett. The oil-crazy days were dramatized in story and song and later became the subject of the Clark Gable - Spencer Tracy movie, Boomtown. In every aspect, Burkburnett is a progressive community. It looks to the future as well as to its historic and colorful past. Burkburnett continues to merit its name of: "Boomtown, USA!"

Wichita Falls Burkburnett TX KOA, was our home for the night and a beautiful night it was!

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